FB: What is your favourite TV food show and who is your favourite TV food person?

SC: Oh, that’s a hard one to choose. I use to love watching Ready Steady Cook. I loved that the chef had to look at the ingredients and be creative to think of a menu to cook. I love Gordon Ramsay as my food person.

OUR DAILY BREAD

A good friend of mine up Gisborne way recently did something she’s been wanting to do for ages – she enrolled in a sour dough bread-making class, and has been raving about it ever since. She’s been turning out these little mini-loaves (see photo) almost on a daily basis, filling her home with the irresistible smell of freshly-baked bread. But bread making does require some patience and dedication, so if doing it from scratch seems a bit overwhelming, you might consider doing the next best thing and buying a bread maker.

The fully automated Panasonic SD-ZB2512 doesn’t just churn out regular fluffy white, rye and French bread, it also creates sour dough bread (using a long fermentation process) as well as lovely artisan varieties to which you can add herbs, nuts, cheese, fruit or whatever you fancy. Using the various baking modes, you can also make pizza dough and perfect fluffy scones in it. And the 100% gluten free bread program enables you to bake gluten-free loaves, using a variety of gluten-free bread mixes and flours.

Better still, it has a jam and compote mode, to make your breakfast complete. The Panasonic SD-ZB2512 retails for around $399.